BY SAM ALFAN.
The High Court has ordered the preservation of over Sh17 million belonging to Kornelia Kerstin Schaller.
The court ordered Schaller not to transfer or deal with the funds held in the Barclays Bank Diani Branch, after Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) said the money could be proceeds of crime.
High Court Anti-Corruption Division Judge Joseph Onyiego granted ARA the order after agency said the businesswoman might transfer the money held in two accounts.
The money is 6,430,662.90 million Kenya shillings in an account at Barclays Bank, Diani Branch in the name of Kornelia Kerstin Schaller and another 10,668,357 million in a different account within the same branch.
The court was told that Germany made a request for mutual legal assistance to secure assets and take measures to prevent Kornelia and her husband Heinz Andreas Schaller from disposing assets registered in their names in Kenya vide a note verbal No. 85/2024 dated February 27, 2014.
Kornelia and her husband Schaller are accused persons or suspects in respect to the offence of commercial breach of trust and abetting breach of trust in accordance with sections 266 sub section (1) , sub section (2) 263 sub section (3), No. 1,27 of the German criminal code.
Germany had undertaken investigations and amounts of approximate 250,000 Euros had been transferred in connection with the offence to banks in Kenya, identifiably the Barclays Bank in respect to the two accounts and the Imperial Bank of Kenya in respect to one account.
“In the decision dated August 1,2013 by the Munich local court that issued the freezing order, it is apparent the Kornelia’s husband Andreas Schaller worked as a freelance accountant for Go! Express & Logistics Munich GmbH where he managed the cash in hand, granted advance, made bank transfers, booking and checking of statements.
Schaller is charged with drawing up fictitious invoices from suppliers and couriers to Go! GmbH and GKS GmbH entering the items in a payment programme changed the original bank accounts details of the alleged creditors by entering his own bank account details or those of his wife.
He would then authorize the transfers using online banking with the PINS and TANs in his possession. The sum transferred was identical to the original entries in the payment system.
“Korneila specifically allowed her husband to use her account to deposit and then jointly use the money illegally obtained. Investigation further identified and traced assets belonging to the respondents reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime,” ARA said.
ARA said there is sufficient evidence and reasonable grounds to believe that the funds in the identified bank accounts held in the Andreas and Korneila name are proceeds of crime liable for recovery by the ARA under POCAMLA and there attaches an international obligation for every state to combat laundering of proceeds of crime by proper implementation of their national domestic law and which the court is now called upon to implement.
Kenya is obligated under international conventions and domestic law to honour mutual legal requests request to combat laundering of proceedings of crime.
